kill to love
by zotrills
Summary: a swordsman... eh, swordswoman hired to eliminate the fire nation prince, who she comes to hate, but will she be able to complete her task? I suck at summaries so just read to story. ZukoxOC
1. prologue

**A/N**

**This is my first story and I'm still a little new to this site so... bare with me. I have a feeling that it's gonna be pretty good though. But I could still use some reviews *hint hint*. Anyway, enjoy the story! By the way my characters name is pronounced ow-re.**

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**Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar: the last airbender, but I do own Houri, her mother, and Kasta.**

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I walked through the golden doors of the throne room in the fire nation royal palace. Kneeling down in front of the firey throne I asked, "You called, my lord?"

"Yes, I am in need of your assistance." Fire Lord Ozai's voice echoed throughout the room. "To my understandance, you are a very skilled fighter. My son has been at sea for over 2 years now with no success. I realize now that I have given him too many chances to regain his honor and all the men on his crew are going to waste. We need them for more important operations. I need you to pay a visit to my dear son and brother retrieve what is mine. I have also come to the realization that his life is worthless and I should have killed him when I had the chance. Can you accomplish this task?"

I remained on the ground battling within myself for an answer. If I said no, then the Fire Lord would just find someone else to do the task and send me back to my mother, if I could even call her that. But if I said yes, I would have to take a life, and not just any life, but the prince of the Fire Nation. "Please forgive me my lord, but kill a member of the royal family? Hasn't Prince Zuko suffered enough? Are you sure these are your wishes?"

"Did you not hear me girl?! He is no longer a part of the royal family! I would kill him myself if I had the chance. His suffering hasn't even begun!" Ozai boomed.

"I accept this task," I nodded in fear.

"Good. For transportation, I have asked Commander Zhao to host you on his ship," he said motioning to the middle-aged man with brown hair in a top knot and brown sideburns standing to the left of the room. The man was smirking for some reason unknown to me. "He is leaving tomorrow for a fire nation harbor and to search for the avatar. After you have finish your first task, you may join him in the search for the avatar. All supplies will be provided including clothing and money."

I hesitated. That Commander Zhao was giving me an uneasy feeling. "With all due respect my lord, but I'd prefer to travel alone. I can get my giant eel hound for transportation and traveling alone would make me more flexible. I'll have the element of surprise where is it would be hard not to notice a fire navy ship."

The slight smirk faded off of Commander Zhao's face. "Yes, you have a point. I think you are right about traveling alone. I will have all of the supplies transferred from Zhou's ship right away, but you will still leave tomorrow morning. But after you finish this task, I require that you still search for the avatar. If I hear of any disobedience against my wishes, you will be punished severely. You may leave." I smiled slightly at Ozai's words before standing, bowing, and walking back out of the golden doors.

I had never been a fan of the war or what the fire nation was doing to the world. I had no intentions of trying to capture the avatar even with the fire lord's warning. Who would be crazy enough to try to capture the world's last chance for peace, not to mention that the avatar hasn't been seen in 100 years. I already decided that I would not stay with that Zhao guy and I would not return home no matter what. Perhaps I could find a small Earth Kingdom city to live in for the rest of my life. Anything would be better than here.

One more night. Only one more night of living hell before I'm free.

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**Later that night...**

I packed only the most personal and necessary of my possessions. Some servants from the royal palace had already dropped off the money and clothing that the Fire Lord supplied for the trip. I lived just outside the capital city in a little run down village since we didn't have enough money to live any where better. I dug a few black pouches out of my closet to put my stuff in. In one pouch, I put my black cloak. I filled another with all the money I was supplied with. I picked a dusty picture off of my desk and looked at it for what felt like the millionth time. It was a picture of me and father when I was about eight. His short brown hair covered all of his head and a beard that reached just past his chin. Lines of laughter were etched at the corners of his mouth. I was sitting on his shoulders smiling so wide that my golden eyes were almost closed. My long black hair had two red ribbons in it on the sides to match my dress. I placed the picture in a third bag along with my dagger. I put a few pieces of food in the last bag if it was needed.

I looked in the mirror across from me. My black hair went to the middle of my back and I had light skin. One thing I inherited from my father was my sense of humor and curiosity. You could see it in my wide golden eyes even though I had always worked hard to hide all of my emotions and all of my thoughts. I sighed. I had always looked more like my mom and it was a terrible reminder that my dad was gone. My dad had been a high ranking general in the fire navy. After my dad died during the war, my mom sort of broke apart. She became cruel and cold towards me and neglected most basic needs. I had to go buy our food and do all the household chores when I was only ten. After a few years she started taking over her jobs again, but she was never the same to me. I felt more like a slave then her daughter. I started competing in sword fights to earn more money to support myself and it paid off. Even if my mom was in a bad mood and neglected me, I was able to buy my own food and clothes. I was quite skilled with an Odachi sword and apparently word spread quickly. Even the Fire Lord was impressed.

I preferred to fight with swords or hand to hand combat over using bending. My fire bending came from both my mom and dad, but my dad was the one who tought me swordsmanship. I spent more time training with swords from my dad and the duels, so I was better at it than bending.

"Ri, I need you to come here." I cringed when I heard my mother's voice coming from the kitchen. I didn't make a sound in hopes that she would assume I was sleeping. "Houri, I know you're awake! I am your mother and you will obey me!" I closed my eyes and sighed deeply before walking into the small kitchen of our house to be greeted by my mother.

"So, my baby girl is all grown up. After 15 years, you are finally going to something useful with yourself." she said, a wicked grin turning the corners of her mouth. "But how could you leave your own mother? The person who has taken care of you since your father died?" her smile turned to a frown, "How could you be so ungrateful?!" SLAP! The force made me stumble to the side a little bit holding my cheek. She was in a bad mood again. I had learned that it would be easier if I didn't fight back and just let her get her anger out. This had been going on a few times a month ever since dad died and she blamed him for causing her so much pain. "How can you live with the fact that your mother will barely be able to survive on her own?!" Another slap. I was on crouching on the ground, but I refused to let the tears fall. That would only encourage her. "If I died, it would be your fault!" Kick. Usually she only slapped and kicked me, but this was one of the worst I had ever seen her. She turned away from me and walked to the cabinets, but I remained in my position. "I've did everything for you and this is how you repay me? Your just like your father, caring about no one but yourself!" She took a plate from the cabinet and threw it at me. I turned my body, so it shattered into to pieces on my shoulder. Pieces of glass remained in my shoulder and blood trickled down my arm.

I couldn't hold it together any more. I let tears fall freely down my face landing on my hand and mixing with the blood. "M-M-Mom, please s-snap out of i-it. You're j-just in a b-bad mood. I'm s-sorry."

"You're weak. If I didn't look after you, you would probably be dead!" with each word, she threw another plate implanting more glass into my skin. "They say children are blessings, but you- you are just a curse! A pain in the ass! A burden that I have to carry!" My mother grabbed my right wrist with a flaming hand, causing a searing pain to run through my arm. As quickly as she grabbed my arm, she released and turned away in guilt while I laid on the floor sobbing in pain.

I knew my mother never meant to hurt me, but it just sort of happened when she lost control of her anger. She always looked guilty, but her pride refused to let her apologize.

"You know where the supplies are," she said before stalking off into her bedroom. I barely heard her words over the sound of my own sobs as I held my wrist to my chest waiting for the burning sensation to vanish.

After a few moments, I was convinced that holding my injury was not helping. I used my good hand to push myself up and slowly walk over to the sink. A deep sigh of relief escaped my lips as the cold water coated the burn. I reached up with my left hand to open the cabinet containing the medical supplies while still keeping my right wrist under water.

Over the years, I had used up almost all of the white cloth bandages to treat other inflicted upon me by my mother. There was only enough to wrap around my wrist now and to reapply once. It would have to do since I didn't have the time to by more.

I had no idea how to treat a burn so that it would heal properly since I had never seen anyone do it. Looking around at the assortment of creams and ointments and picking a green paste, I began to rub it on my wrist, not even caring if it was the right one. It seemed to numb the pain and that's all that mattered. Using as little of the white cloth as possible, I encased my numb wrist in bandages.

Satisfied with my medical skills, I set to work on the glass in my shoulders and arms. Each piece that was pulled out stung like a fresh wound. When my shoulders and arms were glass free, I grabbed the left over bandages and unknown paste and flew to my room. After stuffing my medical supplies another black pouch, I fell back onto my bed and spent the next hour trying to find a less painful position before falling asleep.

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**In the morning...**

I woke up early so my mother wouldn't see me and try to convince me to stay. The clothes I was supplied with consisted of tight black pants that went to my knees, black knee high boots, and a black shirt with sleeves that reached my elbows. I changed the bandages on my wrist and applied more of the unknown paste. My arm was tingling from the numbness, which is still better than the pain. I went to my closet and ripped up one of my shirts so I would have more cloth to substitute for bandages and put it in the pouch along with the paste.

Looking in the mirror, I braided my long dark hair over my shoulder and secured it with a black ribbon. I tied a short black scarf around my neck to act as a face mask. I didn't really need it, but it made me feel intimidating. My Odachi sword was dangling from the belt around my waist, ready to use at any moment.

I went to the desk in the corner of my room and sat down. Dipping the quill in the ink, I started to write:

Dear Mom,

I'm sorry for leaving. I didn't wake you because I have to do this and I knew that you would try to make me stay. I have also decided that once I finish my assignment I will not return home. I will travel the world in search of the avatar. It breaks my heart to leave our great nation. I will return once the avatar is captured. I hope you fare well by yourself and once again, I'm very sorry.

Love,

Ri

The whole letter was a lie. I was the happiest I had ever been to be leaving. I would not search for the avatar at all. But I couldn't leave a letter that said 'I hate you and I never want to come back'.

I left the note on the kitchen table and snuck out the back door with my pouches as quietly as I could. Once I closed the door I walked over to where my eel hound was sleeping.

"Kasta, wake up." I whispered to the eel hound. He lifted his head sleepily and I strapped on his saddle and reins. The black pouches were tied to the saddle; three on one side and two on the other. I used one foot to push myself up and threw my other leg over the saddle.

"Come on. We gotta go. We have a long journey ahead of us." I whispered to him.

Traveling was slow at first, trying to navigate the intertwining streets of the fire nation town. After we got out of the small town, we were going full speed headed for the ocean.

Once we hit the docks we had to slow down again. Dozens of ships were taking off to go burn down villages and ruin families. It shouldn't be a long wait, but it would still mean another moment spent in this horrible nation.

"Hello Miss Houri. May I ask why you are leaving so early?" A male voice came from behind me.

"Commander Zhao, the Fire Lord said to leave as soon as possible. That's just what I'm doing."

"And why is it, that you wish to travel alone? It would be much more comfortable to travel on my ship. You would have food, clothes, a bed, and perhaps some company." he said smirking.

I tensed under his gaze. "I have food and clothes. And I assure you the bed and company you offer are not wanted."

"Very well, but I _assure_ you that this will not be the last time we meet." Zhao said with a smug look.

"Oh look at the time. I must be heading off now." I put on a fake smile and urged Kasta forward.

I could feel his eyes on me the whole time before Kasta jumped into the water. Relaying the recent conversation I just had with Zhao in my head made me shutter at the thought.

According to some reports from fire nation harbors, Prince Zuko was last seen in the waters of the south pole. If we traveled at top speed and only stopped if we needed too, we should be there in a week. It's time to eliminate a certain banished prince.


	2. Now I can't control my body!

**AN: Zhao's name was misspelled in the prologue just to clear up any confusion. I fixed it though so now we're good. Thank you to all the people who reviewed last chapter and followed this story. Also, this is a pretty long chapter just to warn you.**

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**Disclaimer: Atla does not belong to me. I only own my OCs.**

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We traveled as long as we could each day. I only stopped at port cities every other night to rest. Otherwise, I would just stay up and live off of the provisions that were packed. The burn on my arm had not healed yet, but a scar was starting to become visible. I still applied the green paste and cloth strips to it every morning, although it was getting to the point that my arm was almost completely numb. I would look into that more once I got the chance.

South Pole waters were only a day away. I was going to stay at a harbor tonight and begin my hunt tomorrow. With any luck, I will be able to finish the job quickly and move on to other tasks.

Just before the sun set, I came to a fire nation harbor. It seemed like a nice place to stop for the night so I could rest and it was relatively close to the South Pole, but there was one problem. It was Zhao's. I had two choices. Either stay there and try to deal with the creepy sideburns guy or take my chances and try to find another harbor before I collapsed from exhaustion. I sighed in defeat knowing that my chances weren't very good, so it was best just to deal with Zhao and try to keep my temper in check.

I dismounted Kasta and led him past all the ships, being extra sneaky so as not to be seen by Zhao. There was an inn about 10 yards away so I gave up on being sneaky and made a run for it. But, since the universe hates me, I collided with something that I was positive had not been there 5 seconds ago, and started to fall back. The something that I collided with turned out to be a someone and they wrapped an arm around my waist before I could hit the ground.

Now, normally I would thank someone for catching me before I hit a wooden dock, but seeing as it was someone who was slowly making his way up my list of least favorite people, I would've rather fell. Commander Zhao smirked down at me with his arm still around my waist. I frowned back up at him and, after regaining my footing, pried his hand off of my hip.

"I see that you have reconsidered the offer of joining me on my ship?" he asked with the smirk still on his face.

"There is nothing to be reconsidered. I have no intentions of joining you and that is final." I said back as calmly as I could. This guy just couldn't get it through head that I wanted nothing to do with him.

Zhao's smirk faded slightly, but he was still persistent. "At least consider the offer to stay the night on my ship instead of paying for a room. It's the least I can do."

I looked at him warily trying to think of an excuse that wasn't too obvious. Finally I sighed in defeat and reluctantly followed him back to his ship. There was no way I was going to get any rest if I had to sleep with one eye open.

Zhao's ship turned out to be the one right next to where I was sneaking around earlier. I boarded the ship cautiously, watching each soldier I passed out of the corner of my eye. My brain was trying to convince me that there was nothing to be alert about, that I was just acting stupid and I needed to relax. I wanted to be convinced that it was true, but there was something in the back of my mind that kept telling me to keep my guard up no matter what. No matter how hard I tried, though, I couldn't stay alert forever. No one could.

A few of the crew stared as we went by them, but they averted their gaze when turned my head their way and gave them a look that could kill. I sighed inwardly. Like commander, like crew. Soon, Zhao stopped at a door that I assumed to be mine. The Fire Lord did say that there was already a room prepared for me on this ship. I vowed to myself that as soon as I got the chance, I would climb out of a window and stay at the inn. Kasta had ran off somewhere after I ran into Zhao, so I wouldn't need to get him off the ship as well.

Zhao pushed the door open to reveal a simple room. There was a small bed in the left corner and a door on the other wall that probably led to a bathroom. The walls were black iron like the rest of the boat and there were _**no**_ windows. Shit! There goes my escape plan.

I walked in and waited for the click of the door closing before doing anything. I started pacing the room trying to think of some way to get out of this stupid ship. There were no windows and no way I could get past all the crew members and soldiers roaming the ship. My shoulders slumped with the realization that I was stuck here for the night.

The other door in the room led to a bathroom, just as I thought. At least I could make the best of the current situation and clean myself up.

The shower was quick and I dressed in the clothes I had on previously and changed the cloth and paste on my burn. I was too tired to braid my hair before i went to sleep so I just flopped onto the bed and curled under the blankets finally giving in to my brain's pleads to relax and let my guard down. It wasn't long until I was pulled under into a light, dreamless sleep.

It seemed as if no time had passed when my eyelids became lighter, but didn't quite open. I tried to open them all the way, but they refused to budge. I even tried to pry them open with my fingers, but I couldn't move. Great, now I can't control my body! This trip just keeps getting better and better. The soft click of the door filled the room and I felt a brief rush of cool air from the outside. I could hear and feel perfectly which was strange considering my current lack of sight. Soft footsteps echoed across the steel floor. I had a pretty good feeling who it was and I was not particularly happy about it. In my current state of defenselessness, I was starting to get a bit nervous. Zhao could be unpredictable.

With each footstep my anxiety grew. The footsteps came to an abrupt stop and the warm blankets that surrounded me were slowly peeled away. I was laying on my side with my back facing the wall. Light fingers ran up my body, obviously being gentle as to not "wake" me. I felt something on my neck that I could only assume to be the mouth of my admirer. Everything in me wanted to attack and burn someone to ashes, cut their head off, or at the very least, tell them to get the hell out, but my body would not comply. I had no idea how far the commander was willing to go as I was "sleeping" but I had no intentions of finding out. Cold hands slipped under my shirt making there way up my body again and the best I could do was hope for a distraction before he lost the little control he had.

As if my prayers had been answered, there was a large explosion just as Zhao's hands had reached the top of my rib cage. He stopped and hesitated before pulling his hands away and pulling the blanket back over me. After a few seconds, the door clicked shut meaning that I was alone. I had to work fast and figure a way out of this weird paralyzation. My body wasn't stiff like the poison of a shirshu would paralyze it, though. Instead, I felt as if I was holding the sky on my shoulders and I just didn't have the energy or strength to keep it up. There was a great risk, but it seemed that my only choice was to go back to sleep to regain my energy. I slowly drifted off into a light sleep.

When I woke up again, the first thing I noticed was that I could open my eyes. I tested out my arms and legs and, to my relief, found that they worked, too. It didn't seem like anyone had came into my room while I was asleep. I sighed in relief. At this point, I didn't even care if the sun was up. I just wanted off this stupid metal ship.

I grabbed the few items I had with me and slowly opened the door. No guards were down the hallway where my door was located. I doubted my luck would last very long, though.

I crept down hallway after hallway as fast as I could without making noise. I couldn't get caught or else I may be forced to stay longer or even another night. Strangely, only a few guards were in the hallways and I was able to hide in the shadows until they passed.

After about 5 wrong turns, I finally made it to the deck. That wasn't necessarily a good thing, though. Zhao and all the guards that I didn't pass in the hallways were up on deck. Judging from the sun's position, it was only a few hours past sunrise, maybe 8:00 or 9:00. This whole thing just became a lot more complicated.

My immediate idea was to try to stay in the shadows and get to the edge of the ship. I would only fight if I had to. I took my first step out onto the deck, making sure to stick close to the wall. Nothing. No one even looked up from whatever they were doing. I mentally let out a sigh of relief. I proceeded to take slow steps, stopping every few seconds to look back up and check the crew.

Everything was going good until I finally got close enough to the edge of the ship to make a run for it. I prepared myself to lunge into the light and jump over board, but when I lunged my foot caught on an uneven metal slab on the floor and I fell into the light, knocking over a few barrels with me. Just my luck.

Every head on deck turned to stare at me laying on the floor. This was not particularly good. I could of made it to the edge of the deck and still escaped, but it would probably raise too much suspicion so I decided against it and, instead, just lay still on the floor glaring at everyone like an idiot. There were a few tension filled seconds before anyone decided to move or speak.

"How lovely of you to join us, Miss Houri. May I ask why you walked around that way to get to the deck?" Zhao asked, although I had a feeling he knew and just wanted to see what I would come up with. He didn't even seem fazed by the events of what happened last night, but then again, he thought I was asleep and didn't know about it.

I had not planned on this happening, therefore I had no response to his question. When I have no response to a question, I pretty much look like an idiot. "Oh… Ummm… I just thought that… it was a little dusty back here so I decided to clean it?" It sounded like a question, asking if Zhao would actually buy the stupid excuse.

"How very kind of you. Is there anything you need?" Zhao asked again looking amused at the excuse I had given meaning that it really was as bad as I thought.

"I was just wondering if I could possibly leave now and continue my journey. Is that okay?" I said through clenched teeth after getting to my feet once I realized I was still on the floor. My emotions had changed from awkwardness to irritation at having to ask permission to leave and the amused expression on Zhao's face.

"Leaving so soon? At least stay and have some food before you leave." he said with what sounded like mocking in his voice.

Okay. I was done playing calm and collected Houri. I didn't care if it looked suspicious or not. My hand went to my Odachi sword hanging at my waist and unsheathed it to reveal a pure white blade. "Alright, listen. I'm getting off this dang ship whether you like it or not! And if you don't like it, then you can try your best to stop me. I really don't care."

Everyone on deck seemed shocked for a moment at my outburst, even Zhao, but I used that to my advantage. I swung my legs over the side of the deck not even bothering to sheathe my sword and fell using firebending to lessen the fall a little, although it still hurt my ankles to land since I wasn't very good.

Once my feet were safely on the ground, I spared a glance back at the ship I had just came from. There was Zhao, fists clenched around the railing of the deck so tightly his knuckles were white, staring down at me. This would not be the last time I encountered him. That, I was sure of

It turned out that Kasta had just stayed at the inn I was originally going to stay at. I quickly jumped on him and urged him toward the water with new energy from escaping Zhao's ship.

Kasta jumped into the water and we continued the journey through Southern waters. I was glad for the extra energy I had because I was planning on catching the fire prince sometime today. I looked down at my bandaged numb arm wondering if it would be okay to fight with and cursing myself for not getting more bandages and a different paste while I was on the ship.

The South Pole wasn't too far away. Perhaps an hour. It wouldn't take that long to find a fire nation ship now that I had a general area to look in, either. I steered Kasta in the direction we needed to go based off of the maps I had and prepared myself for what was to come.

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**About 2 hours later**

It had taken a little longer than I thought to finally catch sight of a red and black ship. Trying to lead an eel hound through a bunch of glaciers without falling off is harder than you would think. But, the sight of the fire emblem on the ship made me forget all of the difficulty of getting to that point. Sure, it could just be a navy ship returning back to the fire nation after burning down a village, but it was unlikely.

The only people on deck were guards and crew members, so I couldn't be sure that it belonged to the banished prince, but I had to trust my chances. Once Kasta got right beside the ship, I pulled out the picture of me and my dad that I brought with me, kissed it, and started to scale the side using the unused rope I stole. I waited after I took a few steps to see if any of the crew noticed me yet. They didn't, but they soon would if I didn't climb fast.

I made it to the top of the ship unnoticed. Seems that the prince didn't get the best crew in the fire nation. I peered over the side of the railing preparing to make myself known to the crew. I pushed myself over the railing and unsheathed my blade earning the shocked stares of everyone one deck.

Getting over their shock, most of them took fire bending stances while the others drew their weapons. I decided to take the offensive and attack first by charging the nearest fire bender. It would be easier to take out the fire benders first so that I wouldn't have to try to block fire with my weak abilities while fighting. I had no intentions to kill any of them since they had done no harm and I had no orders to do so. Using the hilt of my sword, I would knock them out when I got the chance. If they fire bend, I would dodge it since I didn't exactly trust my firebending and would use it as a last resort.

Soon enough, all the crew were either knocked out or were cowering somewhere else on the ship. I turned expecting to see the prince, but instead there was an elderly man. I lowered my fighting stance knowing that this man meant no harm, but still gave him a questioning look. The old man stared at me with the same look.

I tried to think of reasons why he would be here and I vaguely remembered the Fire Lord mention something about his brother. Could this be him? He seemed nothing like Fire Lord Ozai. Before I could ask why he wasn't attacking me after I had taken out the whole crew, but the door slammed open beside the old man. In the doorway stood a boy that couldn't be much older than me with a distinctive burn scar across his left eye.

I quickly regained my fighting stance, preparing to dodge any flames. The prince struck me as a person who would immediately take the offensive, so I waited for it to come. And I was not disappointed. A blast of fire was sent towards me and I rolled out of the way easily.

The immediate thing that I noticed was that he was completely focused on the force of the flames and not his surroundings. I put together a plan in my head while dodging flames. I ducked under the next flame that was thrown my way and tried to move in closer. The prince didn't even seem to notice and kept firing relentlessly. In only a few minutes, I was behind him with my sword in my right hand at his throat. The fire lord's brother hadn't moved the whole time and still didn't move when I had a sword at his nephew's throat.

I smirked once the prince realised that he had lost and got caught up on what was going on. I was very satisfied at the fact that I was about to complete my task on my first try. "I'm sorry, but I thought the fire lord's son would be more competition."

I couldn't see his face, but I imagined he was scowling at the air. My satisfaction burned up quickly, though, once I got a tingling feeling in my sword arm. The sword dropped to the ground at the prince's feet from my hand now that I had no feeling in it what-so-ever. My arm dropped to my side and I couldn't will it to move just like last night, except this time it was for a different reason.

If I just gave up, I would've been killed, so I had to keep fighting. I grabbed the sword with my left hand and tried to balance myself properly with one arm. Even when I tried to fight, I couldn't dodge fast enough and ended up just running around the deck wobbley. It seemed that the prince was going to use my own strategy against me and kept edging closer until he had me trapped against a wall and a ball of fire at my throat. "Apparently it's too much competition." he replied to my words from when I had my sword at his throat.

"Cheater," I whispered under my breath.

"Who are you and why are you here?" He asked with honest confusion.

"It doesn't matter who I am and I'm here to kill you in case you didn't figure that out," I shrugged. I didn't see anything wrong with telling him my plans. I mean, he's probably already figured that out.

"But why?"

"I know some people who know some people that don't particularly like you. Now I can see why." I answered casually. Of course I wouldn't tell him who it was that had ordered me to do so. That would be stupid.

"You are in no place to criticize me." He said with his temper flaring.

"Am I not?" I tried to mess with his head to delay him and I could think of another plan.

He growled and started moving the flame towards my throat. I turned my head waiting for the burning sensation. Before it could come, the elderly man appeared in front of me stopping his nephew from killing me. He looked as if he were about to say something, but I didn't waste any time and wobbled/ran over to the side of the deck. I climbed over it as fast as I could with one arm and fell to the water.

After I fell into the water, Kasta pulled me up and started swimming towards the last village we passed. I looked back to see the fire prince glaring down at me as I made my escape. That went a lot worse than I expected.

The last village we passed wasn't too far off and it was small with small watchtowers made of snow. There was also a fire nation ship frozen in ice near it. There I could rest and recover. There I wouldn't be found.


	3. call me Gran-Gran

**Warning- this chapter is mostly dialogue and has little action. Read at your own risk.**

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**Disclaimer: Avatar: the last airbender does not belong to me. I only own my OCs.**

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The fire nation ship wasn't hard to find. It stood out among all the snow and ice. Kasta easily jumped onto the ice from the water and we traveled west towards the village.

Actually, the village was more of a camp. There was maybe 15 tents and hardly anyone there, but the people that were there stopped what they were doing to group around me. Apparently they didn't get many visitors.

"Who are _you?" _An old woman asked.

I started to say my name and then realized that they would immediately recognize it as firenation. I quickly changed the sounds on my tongue, "Hona. I'm traveling from the Earth Kingdom. I need a place to stay."

The old woman looked skeptical, but nodded. She motioned for me to follow her and I did. I could feel the stares of all the villagers on my back. I don't blame them. I would stare, too.

The woman led me to an tent in the far corner of the village. "This is my grandchildren's tent, but I'm sure they wouldn't mind you staying for a few days. They are about your age and they are out fishing. They'll be back soon."

"Thank you very much for your kindness…?" I asked.

"Call me Gran-Gran," she supplied.

"-Gran-Gran," the name sounded weird on my tongue. I never knew my grandmother. I wondered if this was what she was like.

I slid off the eel hound with some difficulty, but it seemed to go unnoticed. I used my left hand to pull the curtains away and walked into the tent. The inside was decorated with animal hides and a few water tribe weapons. There were no beds so I assumed that I was supposed to sleep on the animal hides. Well, it was better than how I've been sleeping for the past week.

It had been a long day and I hadn't gotten much sleep the night before, so I was tired. I took off my sword and laid down on the closest animal pelt. It was surprisingly comfortable. As soon as I closed my eyes, sleep took over.

* * *

I woke up with a splitting headache. It took a few seconds for me to remember where I was and I was also aware of something repetitively slamming into my head. I rolled out of the way of the next jab and looked up at the source. There was a boy who looked around my age with tan skin and brown hair in some kind of ponytail.

_This must be one of Gran-Gran's grandchildren, _I thought.

"Who are _you_?" The boy questioned.

I stood up and dusted myself off with my left hand. "I'm Hona. Who are you?"

"My name is Sok- wait, you could be firenation!" He caught himself.

I contemplated what he said, "So Sok as in, what you put on your foot?"

"No, no, no. My name isn't Sok." The boy clarified.

"Whatever. Do you have any food around here?" I asked while looking around.

"My sister is cooking fish right now, but I'm not done questioning you!" He stated.

"Fine, question away if it means I get food." I said.

"Why are you here? Where did you come from? Are you firenation? Are you leading the fire nation here? What the heck is that green thing outside?" He asked quickly.

I looked up in thought and then answered, "Traveling, no, no, and my eel hound." I tried hard to make my answer seem truthful. The un-named boy glared at me suspiciously, but motioned to where the food was outside.

Once the curtains were pushed aside I saw a girl who also looked about my age. She had brown hair and tan skin like the boy from the tent. Probably his sister. She was taking fish off of the fire.

The girl turned her head to look at me and smiled, "Hi my name is Katara."

I smiled back and went over to stand beside her, "My name is Hona."

"Would you like some fish?" she asked.

"Yes please," I responded hungrily.

Katara handed me a plate of fish and got herself one. Then we both sat down to eat, "You've probably already met my brother, Sokka. Don't feel bad if he accused you of anything. He does that to everyone."

"It's okay. I'd be majorly paranoid if a strange girl was sleeping in my tent, too." I said after taking a bite of my fish. I never really liked fish, but it was better than most water tribe food.

"So where do you live? And where's your family?" She changed the subject.

"I'm from the Earth Kingdom. My dad is fighting in the war and my mom is gone." I said with genuine sadness in my voice. I looked down at my right arm lying limply in my lap and at the bandages that cover the burn my own mother had gave me.

"I'm sorry about your mom. My mom is gone too. This was her necklace that she gave to me." Katara said while looking at her blue necklace that she wore. I could tell that it meant a lot to her.

Katara and I talked for a long time about ourselves. In only a few hours, I felt like I had known her my whole life. Although I hated when she asked questions about my background because I had to lie to her.

I hadn't even noticed the sun setting on the horizon until it was completely dark and the moon was out. Katara seemed to notice, too. "It's getting late. Maybe we should get some rest."

I nodded without looking at her. The nap I took earlier in the day was cut short by Sokka, so I was still tired. Katara got up and started walking towards the tent. I followed wordlessly after her.

The tent was darkened with the lack of sun and I resisted the urge to fire bend to see. After a few moments my eyes adjusted to the dark and I could make out the faint outlines of the water tribe siblings. Sokka seemed to already be asleep and Katara was just now laying down. I went over to the same animal hide I had slept on earlier and laid down on my back. I stared up into the darkness until I slowly fell asleep.

* * *

"Hona! Wake up!" A female voice said. I opened my eyes a little to see who it belonged to. Katara was standing above me, "Sokka and I are going fishing. Do you want to come?"

I groaned and flipped over on my stomach with my face in the pillow. Then I thought better of it and pushed myself up with my left hand. I wasn't going to go back to sleep so I might as well do something. Once I was on my feet, I rebraided my black hair over my shoulder. Then I strapped my sword around my waist and followed Katara outside.

Judging by the sun, it couldn't have been more than 7:00 in the morning and it was noticeably colder than yesterday. Kasta was laying beside the tent sound asleep with my supplies lying next to him. I searched all of the bags until I found my cloak and placed it over my shoulders.

Sokka had finished preparing the canoe and was waiting in it impatiently. Katara was just now getting in. I ran over to them as fast as I could through snow, not wanting to give Sokka any more reasons to dislike me. It was obvious that the canoe was for two people, but we were all able to fit.

Sokka pushed the boat off with his spear and we were on our way. For hours, Sokka tried stabbing fish with his spear, but missed every time. Between failures he would question and accuse me while Katara argued and stood up for me. Finally he gave up and we were all silent until the next fish came.

Sokka broke the silence,"It's not getting away from me this time. Watch and learn girls. This is how you catch a fish."

I glared at the back of Sokka's head until I heard Katara shout, "Sokka, look!" She had water bended a bubble with a fish in it.

"Shhh. Katara, you're gonna scare it away. Mmmm... I can already smell it cooking!" Sokka whispered without looking.

"But Sokka, I caught one!" Katara shouted again. Sokka raised his spear and popped the bubble, drenching himself. I covered my mouth to muffle my laugh, but I have to say, he deserved that.

"Why is it that every time you play with magic water I get soaked?" The boy asked annoyed.

"It's not magic. It's waterbending, and it's-" Katara defended, but Sokka cut her off, "Yeah, yeah, an ancient art unique to our culture, blah blah blah. Look, I'm-" I didn't listen to the rest of their argument. I was too busy gaping at the icebergs I had went through to get here. Except then I had a giant eel hound and now I have a wooden canoe.

"Hey guys," I tried, but they weren't listening so I tried louder, "GUYS! LOOK!" They both stopped bickering and looked at me and then to where I was pointing. It was too late, though, because we were caught in the current and headed towards the ice.

"Watch out! Go left! Go left!" Katara shouted orders. Sokka tried to navigate the ice while I held onto the side of the canoe as tight as I could with one hand so I wouldn't get thrown out on impact. After a few seconds of _almost_ getting crushed, the canoe was completely crushed and I was forced to jump out. I landed painfully on my stomach, knocking the breath out of my lungs, but at least I was alive. I glanced up and saw that Katara and Sokka were also safe.

"You call that left?" Katara criticized.

"You don't like my steering. Well, maybe you should have waterbended us out of the ice." Sokka retorted. I could tell that this was the start of another argument. Even if I had only known these two for a day, I knew that they couldn't go a day without disagreeing. I didn't listen to any of the argument until the huge iceberg behind Katara started to crack.

"Uh… Katara." I tried to get her attention, but she was too busy with her rant to hear me. She brought down her arms in one sharp movement and the iceberg broke in half, getting her attention.

"Okay, you've gone from weird to freakish, Katara." Sokka said.

"You mean I did that?" she asked.

"Yep, Congratulations." Sokka said with sarcasm. There was a glow rising in the water from where I was sitting. The siblings seemed to notice it too and came over to look. The glow rose until it broke out of the water and our little floating ice-raft was pushed back. The glow turned out to be an orb of ice with a… is that a person?

The eyes of the person(?) opened and glowed for a moment meaning whoever it was was alive.

"He's alive! We have to help him!" Katara said while grabbing Sokka's weapon and running over to the ice. When I got over to her, she gave the ice one final hit and it exploded, releasing air. A beam of light shot out from ice.

A young boy with glowing eyes climbed on top of the iceberg and fell off the side. Katara caught him right before he hit the ice. Upon getting a better look at him, I could see that the boy had arrow tattoos. Airbender tattoos!

The boy opened his eyes and spoke weakly, "I need to ask you something."

"What?" Katara asked.

"Please… come closer." The boy said as if his voice hadn't been used in years.

"What is it?" Katara asked again.

"Will you go penguin sledding with me?" The boy said in a different voice before pushing himself up with… air? So he really was an airbender.

"Uh… I guess." Katara said startled.

The airbender looked around confused, "What's going on?"

Sokka started to poke him with his spear and ask him questions like what he had done to me. I heard a growl come from the iceberg and ran around the side to see what it was. What I saw made my jaw drop, literally. Inside the iceberg was a huge, six-legged, bison.

"What is that?" I asked the airbender.

"This is Appa, my flying bison." he answered.

"Right. And this is Katara, my flying sister." Sokka said with sarcasm. Before I knew it, Sokka was covered in green snot. Once again, he deserved that.

"So do you guys live around here?" The boy asked while Sokka rolled on the snow.

"Don't answer that! He might be a spy for the fire nation!" Sokka said after getting the snot off.

I rolled my eyes and Katara said, "Yeah, Sokka, you can tell by that evil look in his eyes. The paranoid one is my brother, Sokka. And this is my friend, Hona. She doesn't live here though. Who are you?"

Katara calling me her friend made me feel bad. I had lied to her about everything and if I told her the truth she would hate me. I liked Katara and I didn't want that to happen.

"I'm A… ahhhh… ahhhh… achoo!" he sneezed and flew ten feet in the air, "I'm Aang."

Katara gasped, "You're an airbender!"

"Sure am." Aang clarified.

Sokka grumbled to himself a little about going home, but then realized their canoe was long gone. Aang offered for us to ride on Appa and I readily agreed. Once we were on, Appa jumped into the air for maybe 3 seconds and fell back into the water. It was better than nothing, at least.

It had been a long day so far and the saddle was surprisingly comfortable. I leaned my head back and closed my eyes to rest.

* * *

I woke up once again to something poking me in the head. This time, I reached up and grabbed the end of the spear without opening my eyes. I knew who it was, "If you want to keep your spear, I suggest you stop poking me."

Sokka retracted his spear protectively and said, "We're in the village."

"I'm going to the tent to sleep. Remember what I said about poking me with the spear." I muttered before sliding off of Appa and trudging to the tent. I unstrapped my sword and laid down on a random animal pelt. It wouldn't hurt to go back to sleep. I doubted anything important would happen.

**A/N: Yay! We're finally into the regular story line. I was going to add the next chapter onto this one, but I was afraid that it would make it too long and I wanted to get it up this weekend. Thank you to all my reviewers.**


	4. it's raining people

**A/N: Longest chapter so far and it's early too! I'm just gonna give myself a pat on the back!**

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**Disclaimer: I do not own avatar, but avatar does own me**

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"The foreigner is banished from our village!" I woke up suddenly to the sound of someone shouting. Without a second thought, I jumped up and ran out of the tent. All of the villagers were gathered at the opening of the village. I nudged my way through the group to see what was going on.

"Sokka you're making a mistake!" Katara yelled at him angrily.

"No, I'm keeping my promise to dad. I'm protecting you from threats like him." Sokka said.

"Aang is not our enemy. Don't you see? He has brought us something we haven't had in a long time. Fun." Katara argued.

"Fun? You can't fight fire benders with fun." Sokka argued back. "Now get out of our village!"

Katara pleaded with her grandmother, "Grandmother, please, don't let Sokka do this."

"Katara, you knew going on that ship was forbidden. Sokka is right. I think it best if the airbender leaves." Gran-Gran said.

"Fine, then I'm banished, too." Katara told her. "Come on Aang. We're going to the northern water tribe so I can learn to water bend."

"Katara! Would you really choose him over your tribe? Your own family?" Sokka asked.

Aang said something to Katara I couldn't hear and hopped onto Appa. "Let's see your bison fly now air-boy." Sokka said.

"Come on Appa, you can do it. Yip! Yip!" Aang urged. Appa got up, but his feet never left the ground.

"Yeah, I thought so." Sokka said. I elbowed him in the arm for being so mean. He jumped in surprise, obviously just noticing that I was there. Aang and Appa walked off after waving goodbye to everyone.

"Are you happy now? There goes my one chance of becoming a water bender!" Katara said angrier than I had ever seen her. She stomped off in a random direction. As the group of villagers dispersed, I stayed where I was, wondering what had happened to get everyone so worked up. After a few moments of wondering, I went to find Katara to ask her why Sokka had banished Aang. Besides, she needed someone right now.

I found Katara sitting by herself behind some of the tents. She had her chin resting on her knees while playing with some snow. It seemed that she had calmed down a little bit more than before. I went over and sat beside her, but didn't say anything.

"What do you want?" Katara asked sadly.

"I wanted to make sure that you were okay. What happened back there?" I questioned her.

Katara began to explain that she had took Aang penguin sledding and had boarded the fire nation ship frozen in ice. She told me that an alarm went off in one room, signaled a flare, and alerted the fire nation.

"... now the fire nation will probably be here any second." She finished without looking up the whole time.

"Oh," was all I could say. I knew that what had happened wasn't really Aang's fault, but truthfully, I would've did what Sokka did in this situation. The only bad side was that the only ship that could've seen the flare was the exact same person that I came here to avoid. I just hoped it wasn't him.

"You should probably help Sokka with the soldiers. He's the only warrior here and he won't stand a chance. If the two of you both fought together, you might last a little longer." Katara said. She still seemed depressed, but not as bad as before. I nodded and got up to go prepare for the fire nation attack.

* * *

I walked back to the tent and grabbed my sword. My hair had fallen loose from sleeping so I tightly rebraided it to keep it out of the way. When I walked outside, Sokka was already standing on the wall scanning the horizon. Katara had joined the villagers and were huddled together for protection, awaiting what was to come. I climbed up the ice steps to the wall and glanced at Sokka. He looked back at me and nodded his approval.

No one spoke and tension filled the air while waiting on the attack. Soon enough, a fire nation ship approached on the horizon. It suddenly crossed my mind that I wouldn't be a good fighting companion with my arm. I had gotten used to the feeling of no feeling and had completely forgotten about it. Until now, at least. I mentally yelled at myself for having such horrible timing.

The ship approached quickly. When it started to break through the ice, the ground cracked all around. Like an earthquake except with ice, so it would be, an icequake? The "watch tower" as Sokka called it, crumbled from the quake. Sokka grumbled to himself, but didn't take the hint and move. But I did and ran down the steps quickly knowing that the ship had full intentions of running straight into the wall.

"Sokka, you idiot, you're gonna get ran over by that ship!" I yelled at him over the rumbling. He didn't listen and took a fighting stance, thinking that he might actually be able to damage the ship. I face palmed at how stupid he was. Luckily, when the ship made contact with the wall, it fell leaving Sokka unharmed.

Satisfied that Sokka was okay, I ran back to join the other villagers. The gangplank of the ship lowered and three silhouettes were masked by smoke. _Please don't let it be him, please don't let it be him, _I prayed to myself. Once the smoke cleared, the silhouettes were revealed to be two strange soldiers and… Prince Zuko. I inwardly sighed at my luck.

Sokka hopelessly attacked the fire prince and was kicked aside easily. I ducked my head so my bangs would hide some of my face from view.

"Where are you hiding him?" the prince asked the village. Suddenly he pulled Gran-Gran away from Katara, "He'd be about this age. Master of all elements." He released a wave of fire over the villagers heads causing them to duck and scream, "I know you're hiding him!"

I wanted so badly to help them and to protect them, but I knew I couldn't without revealing my identity. Sokka did exactly what I wanted to do. He got back up and attacked the prince with various weapons, but failed each time. That is until his boomerang came back and hit the prince in the head. I chuckled a little, but not enough for anyone to hear.

Zuko recovered from the blow to the head, but he was angry. Fire flared through his fingertips. Out of nowhere, Aang came to Sokka's rescue. He knocked the angry prince off of his feet and into a very unflattering position.

"Hey Katara. Hey Sokka. Hey Hona." The airbender greeted us.

"Hi… Aang. Thanks for coming." Sokka said dryly.

Aang turned to the fire nation attackers, "Looking for me?"

"You're the airbender? You're the avatar?" Zuko asked in shock. The feeling was mutual. I knew the last avatar was an airbender, but I never thought it would be Aang. Both boys got into fighting stances and began to circle each other.

"I've spent years preparing for this encounter. Training. Meditating. You're just a child." The firebender said.

Aang broke his fighting stance for a moment and pointed out, "Well, you're just a teenager." Once again, I laughed under my breath. I had raised my head enough to watch what was going to happen in the battle.

The fire prince lashed out with fire at Aang. He managed to block it all by twirling his staff, but the flames he didn't block came back at the villagers. Realizing this, Aang stopped spinning his staff and looked at his attacker, "If I go with you, do you promise to leave everyone alone?"

The banished prince thought about the offer and nodded. I understood why Aang was giving himself up, but I couldn't let him do it. I couldn't let the fire nation get their hands on the avatar so easily. "Aang stop. You don't have to do this." I shouted.

"Don't worry, it will be okay." he said. One of the soldiers went to push Aang forward, but the fire prince stopped him.

"I recognize that voice." He said after a few seconds of thinking. He turned and scanned the crowd of villagers. I tried to edge my way to the back of the huddle, but I was too late. The scarred prince's gold eyes locked on me in realization, "You."

Prince Zuko turned to his soldiers, "Seize that girl," he said pointing to me. My head shot up and I turned to run, but the guards grabbed my arms before I could make it any where. Katara and Sokka looked at me with looks of shock plastered on their faces.

"Aang, Hona!" Katara shouted from the group.

I turned my head and gave her a reassuring smile, "I'll be back. Take care of Kasta while I'm away." Somehow I would make it out of this.

The soldiers lead me up the gangplank of the ship-very harshly might I add-and into the darkness. I heard the creak of the plank rising as I was lead through the echoing hallways.

Only a few minutes after I was surrounded by darkness, I was blinded by light. I was on the deck of the ship. In front of me was the prince, the old man, and a few other guards. Aang was beside me, also bound by ropes. I could feel the eyes of the old man studying me, trying to figure out my purpose.

"These will make excellent gifts for my father." The prince said while examining Aang's staff and my sword. "Take the avatar and the girl to the prison hold and take these to my quarters. I will interrogate the girl later."

The whole time he spoke I glared daggers at him. Along the way to the deck, the soldiers had removed my sword from waist so I wouldn't have any weapons. Maybe this crew deserved more credit than I gave them. The guards that were holding me turned around and gruffly lead me back into the darkness.

I memorized the pattern of turns to take for my great escape and recited it to myself over and over in my mind. Right, right, left, right and down the stairs.

To say the least, the prison hold wasn't the most comforting place in the ship. It consisted of a bunch of metal rooms at the bottom of the ship. The soldiers holding me jerked left and led me to the cell at the end of the hall.

The inside of the cell was damp and cold. All of the walls were metal and there was a small opening with bars on the door to communicate with the prisoners safely. The guards pushed me in making me stumble and fall on my face since my hands were tied behind me. Before I could turn around to yell at them, they had closed the door and left.

I rolled across the floor of the cell until I was on my back against one of the walls, all the while trying to ignore the pain every time my cheek hit the metal floor. There would be a nasty bruise there tomorrow. From there, I used what little movement my hands could do to prop myself up and lean against the wall. At least I was in a more comfortable position.

It seemed like it was only a few minutes before a knock was heard at my door. "_Who the heck knocks on a door to a prison cell?" _I thought to myself.

Ignoring my inner thoughts, I told my visitor, "Come in."

The door opened slowly and the old man from the deck stepped inside with a tray of tea and a bundle of other stuff. I was truly in a state of shock. Surely this man didn't want to have tea together.

"Can I help you?" I asked furrowing my eyebrows in confusion.

The old man let out a hearty laugh and sat everything that he was carrying down. "I just came down to bring you some tea. Sharing tea with strangers is one of life's true pleasures, although I feel as if we will be seeing a lot of each other over the next few months."

The old man came around behind me and untied the ropes around my hands. I pulled my right arm up to rest in my lap like I did when I talked to Katara. He poured a cup of tea for me and another one for himself before sitting down in across from me. This was a very peculiar man indeed.

I stared at him for a minute wondering why he had untied me. "Why did you untie me? Aren't you worried that I would attack you and escape?"

"I am not worried about you attacking me. And if you were to attack me and escape, which I know you wouldn't, then it must be destiny for you to be off this ship." The old man said in a kind voice.

I glanced down at my tea warily, trying to judge whether or not it was safe to drink. The steam coming off of the cup smelled like mint and nothing else. After a few seconds of testing the tea, I finally took a sip and, like I had thought, it was mint. I took another sip and enjoyed the warm feeling as it warmed my body. It had been a while since I had had tea and never was it this good.

"I'm sorry, but you never said who you were?" I asked after a few minutes of drinking tea in silence. I had a hunch but I wanted to make sure.

"My apologies, my name is Iroh." The old man, Iroh, said.

I had a feeling it was the great general Iroh, but my eyes still widened the tiniest bit. This kind man who had brought me, a prisoner, tea had laid siege to Ba Sing Se for 600 days? This was the former dragon of the west? I nodded my head in acknowledgement, "Thank you for the tea General Iroh."

"You can just call me Iroh or Uncle if you want. I'm not the general I used to be." Iroh clarified, "And what is your name?"

I hesitated for a moment, wondering whether or not to give my real name or the one I used at the water tribe. Finally deciding that I could trust this man with a little information, I said, "Houri, but I go by Ri."

"What a beautiful name for a beautiful young girl." he said and I blushed at the compliment. "There is something else that I came here to do. May I see your arm?"

I was shocked at the general's request, but picked up my arm with my left hand any way. Iroh rummaged through the pile of stuff he brought before he picked up a small cloth and a clear jar. He unwrapped the bandages on my arm until the burn was completely exposed. It looked better than when I had first got it, but not by much. You could tell that it had been treated poorly because it should've been closing up.

Iroh wiped off the burn with the cloth that he had. Then he stuck a finger in the jar and scooped up some white oily cream that I assumed was used to treat burns. Normally, it probably would've hurt, but seeing as my arm was still numb, I felt nothing. Iroh rewrapped new bandages around it and put my arm back down.

I was going to ask how he knew what had happened to my arm, but I didn't have to. "When you were on the ship a few days ago I noticed that your arm was wrapped and you were unable to use your arm for some of the fight. Like I said earlier, I had a feeling that we would be seeing a lot of you in the next few months and a created this herbal medicine for your burn. Within a few hours you should get all feeling back."

I was grateful that he had not asked how I had got the burn. But I was also shocked at what this man had picked up just by watching me fight his nephew, but that raised an even bigger question, "Why did you stop your nephew from killing me but not me from killing him?"

Iroh smiled at me, "I could see it in your eyes that you were not going to kill him. You may have wanted to, but you do not strike me as the killing type." I took some insult from Iroh comment although he didn't mean it that way. I could've have killed him, couldn't I? And I would've too, if it weren't for my arm giving out.

Iroh must've seen the offense on my face and quickly added, "If it makes you feel better, my nephew would not have killed you either, no matter how much he would like to believe he would've. He might, however, burn you and we couldn't have that. That is why I interfered. Also, you and my nephew were a good match for each other fighting wise and I enjoyed watching the interaction."

I still thought that I would've killed him if I had the chance, but I felt better from Iroh's comment. If anything, this made me want to prove that I could kill someone without a second thought. Suddenly there was a loud crash and sounds of yelling.

"I believe that is the signal for you to escape. We will meet again soon." Iroh said.

I looked at him in shock for what had to be the 3rd time that day. He was letting me escape. I nodded once to him in thanks before heading for the door.

"Oh, and your sword is in prince Zuko's room along with the avatar's staff! Take two lefts and a right at the top of the stairs!" Iroh called after me. I turned around and waved to the kind man before heading to get my sword.

I could run faster now that I had some feeling in my right arm and I could use it to increase my speed, so I got to the prince's room pretty fast. I stopped short before I turned the last turn. There were sounds of fighting and yelling going on around the corner and I didn't dare step out to see who it was. There were two loud bangs before I heard the sound of a door opening. First there were small footsteps that were barely audible, probably belonging to Aang, and a few seconds later there were louder ones belonging to the stupid prince that had locked me in here in the first place.

The footsteps quickly faded away and I rounded the corner hoping that no one was still in the room. Luckily, there wasn't anyone inside, and my sword sheath was in the corner. Sword _sheath _being the key word because that's all that was there. I searched the room hurriedly for my sword and found laying on the desk in the corner. Stupid freaking prince messing with my stuff! Doesn't he know not to touch other people's property?

I walked through the turns that the guards used to take me to the prison hold, except backwards since I was going the other way. I started at the top of the stairs from the prison hold and went left, right, left, and then another left. I shoved the door open into the bright sunlight.

Except there wasn't sunlight. A huge shadow loomed over the deck and I looked up to see Aang wrapped in a funnel of water with his eyes and tattoos glowing. This was the avatar state! What the heck did the fire prince do to make Aang go into the avatar state?

Out of all the commotion no one noticed me running across the deck to the side. Once there, I leaned over and blew on my fingers in a shrill whistle. That got everyone's attention, including the green eel hound that was waiting patiently in the water. I jumped over the railing just barely missing a fireball headed straight for my head.

Just as I hit the water and Kasta pulled me back up, all the soldiers and crew members that were on deck started falling off.

"Ahhhhh! It's raining people!" I yelled covering my head from the falling soldiers and splashing water.

When I was sure all the raining of people had stopped I looked back up at the ship. Prince Zuko was hanging by one hand off of the chain on the ship. He turned his gaze to me and shot a badly aimed fire ball, but I guess it was the best you could do if you were hanging off the side of a ship. I smirked and held two fingers to my forehead. I quickly pulled my fingers away in a salute. This fight will be left for another day.


	5. All because I'm fire nation

**A/N: The next four episodes (The southern air temple, the warriors of Kyoshi, the king of Omashu, and imprisoned) are not going to have Houri in them so I am just going to combine them into this chapter and the next one. It's going to be a little bit harder to write off of these four episodes so they might also be a shorter chapters(1,500-2,000 words) and fillers. I'm also combining these four episodes because I can't wait to get to the winter solstice episodes which will be after the next chapter.**

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**Disclaimer: I do not own A:TLA, only my OCs.**

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I had two choices: go with the avatar or continue by myself. The more desirable option would be to go with the avatar, but it also came with the most complications. First of all, I doubt that they would even let me join now that they know I am targeted by the fire prince for some reason. Sokka was already cautious around me before any of this. And second, I would have to continue lying and making up stories to accompany my fake life.

On the other hand, if I went by myself I would have nothing to worry about. I could stick to my main task without any obstacles or unnecessary pit stops. It would be the more convenient choice. And right now, convenience sounded pretty good.

It was decided. I would just continue on by myself like I'd been doing. Before I did anything, I needed to stock up on supplies. Zhao's harbor was completely out of the question, so I needed somewhere else. I pulled out one of the maps from my saddle bag. There were hardly any ports or harbors out in the Southern waters so I had a long way to travel no matter where I went.

After a while of studying the maps, I decided to go to a village that looked a little bit bigger than Sokka and Katara's. As long as I kept a low profile I could get in, get supplies, and get out. So I turned Kasta and headed north to the village.

Fortunately, the village wasn't very far at all from where I was and I was able to get there just before the sun set. Unlike Sokka and Katara's village, this one had vendor stands and small houses made of ice instead of tents. There were more people, although most were women and kids because of the war. As I walked down the ice between the houses and vendors no one paid me any attention. It was unusual for that to happen, but I was glad to not be the center of attention.

My first order of business was to find somewhere to stay for the night. Getting captured and thrown in a prison cell really took a lot out of a girl. I doubted there would be any inns and I was right. Not that I was going to stay in one anyway. In order to keep a low profile I needed to keep away from people as much as possible.

I lowered my eyes and kept my head down. Some people would be able to automatically recognize my trademark fire nation gold eyes. All I needed to do was find a place to sleep and everything would work out.

I raised my gaze to survey the area for anywhere that could possibly be semi-comfortable. Everything in sight was made of ice. I kept walking forward while observing my surroundings until I walked by a different kind of building. It was made of ice like all of the others, but it had animal pelts covering the ground. There were ice stairs that led to a small loft. My guess was that it was the meeting center of the village.

It wasn't the most secretive place to sleep in hiding, but it sure looked comfortable with all of the soft animal pelts. And that loft would make a good place to lay down. I debated with myself for a few moments before giving into temptation. _They probably never use it anyway,_ I thought.

I climbed up the stairs with Kasta at my heels. The whole room was visible from the loft so I would be able to see if someone came in when I was still awake.

I lowered myself down to a sitting position and laid back with my hands behind my head. The fur was so soft and I was so tired…

* * *

"... Miswakup. Comonwakup!" I woke up to something tugging on my newly feeling hand. Everything that person said blended together in my state of sleepiness.

"Kastaaa… 5 more minutesss." I slurred as I rolled over. Then I remembered that Kasta couldn't talk. My eyes shot open and I bolted up. I looked around myself for the thing that had found me and woken me up.

Sitting beside me startled from how fast I had sat up, was a little girl that couldn't have been more than six. She had curly, light brown hair that hung in her face and really dark blue eyes that resembled the color of the night sky. She wore a blue and white coat like any other smart person who lived down here. I blinked at her a few times waiting for her to speak.

"Ummm… Miss? I don't think you're supposed to be up here." The girl said.

I looked around remembering that I had fallen asleep in the meeting room. Fortunately, there was no one else there except for the girl. How was I even supposed to explain to this girl what I was doing up here? She didn't actually ask for an explanation so I guess it didn't matter anyway. "Sorry," was all that I said.

Kasta had already woken up, but was still laying down. I yawned and stretched my arms above my head before standing up. I started walking down the steps knowing Kasta would follow. When I reached the bottom and started to walk outside the building I felt something brush against my hand. I looked down and saw the night sky eyed girl walking by my side. Actually, it was more like skipping because of her shorter strides.

I rose my eyebrow in confusion then turned my head and ignored her, thinking that she would just go back to her home. When I turned in the direction of the vendors, the girl turned with me while still keeping pace. I didn't hate kids or anything, in fact, I kinda liked them, but this was definitely not what I needed right now.

The girl never looked up to acknowledge me. I quickened my pace to see if she would keep up or fall back. Sure enough, she started running to catch up. I sighed in defeat and slowed my pace so she didn't have to run. If I was going to be stuck with her I wouldn't make her run to keep up.

We walked in silence until I couldn't stand it anymore and asked,"What's your name?"

"Seliana," she said in a sing-song voice, but then added, "Everybody just calls me Ana."

"Well Ana, my name is Hona. Can I ask what you were doing before you woke me up?" I asked using my fake name and putting as much friendliness into my voice as possible.

Ana giggled a little bit before answering, "You were asleep in my play house."

"You have a very big play house," I said.

"mmhmm…" Ana mumbled distractedly. I followed her gaze to one of the smaller ice buildings squished between two taller ones. I wondered what could be in there that had the little six year old so distracted. My curiosity rose and I unconsciously turned towards the building knowing Ana would follow my lead.

The inside smelled like food. Really good food. There was a man standing against the wall who probably owned the place. A few tables decorated the inside with pillows to sit on. It wasn't very crowded either, only about three people in the whole room. Overall, it was a very nice place to eat.

"Can I help you?" The owner asked from his position against the wall.

I was about to say no, but then I looked at the little girl that was by my side and thought better of it. "Can I have two cookies?" I asked in response.

The owner nodded and went through a door beside where he was standing. I tugged the Ana's hand and led her over to one of the empty tables. Only seconds after we had sat down the owner came back with two brown cookies.

I watched with a small smile on my face as Ana picked up the cookie with wide, excited eyes and began eating. It was so strange how little kids found so much joy in the simplest of objects. I picked apart my cookie slowly, wanting to savor the sweet taste.

I finished my cookie about five minutes later and stood up to go pay. Ana stood after me and grabbed ahold of my hand gently. I walked over to the owner and asked, "How much?"

"Two coins." he said in a cheerful tone. I reached into my pocket with my free hand and felt around for two coins. Once I felt them I enclosed my fist around them and handed them to the man in front of me without a second thought.

The man glanced down at the coins in curiosity for a moment and then raised his eyes to meet mine with a scornful glare. In one swift movement, he had separated Ana's hand from mine and was standing between us. Two words left his lips in a whisper loud enough for everyone to hear, "Fire nation."

I saw Ana's eyes widen from where she was standing behind the man. I was at a loss for words. How did he find out? Then it hit me with _perfect_ timing: The only money I had was fire nation coins.

How could I have been so stupid? I froze in my spot searching for the right words. I couldn't find any that would get me out of this mess, so I bolted.

Once I was outside I whistled loudly for Kasta while still running. I didn't dare look back to see if anyone was following me or if they had alerted the village officials, I just ran. As I ran past the ice building where I had slept, Kasta lept up and started running beside me. I grabbed his reins and pulled myself up without stopping.

Without stopping, we ran straight through the village, probably drawing everyone's attention. At the edge of the village Kasta jumped full speed into the ocean and started swimming from there. That was when I finally saw it safe to look back. There was one person standing on the edge. One very short person. I could see the sorrow, regret, and anger swirling in her midnight eyes even from where I was. All because I came from the fire nation.

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**A/N: This was for the southern air temple and the warriors of Kyoshi.**


	6. important AN

I really wanted this to be a chapter, but it's not. Unfortunately, since technology hates me, my computer crashed today. It pretty much just ruined my day, but don't worry because I still have the next in-progress chapter saved just nothing to type it with.

Some more good news is that I am getting a new laptop as soon as possible which hopefully won't take longer than a week or two. So... the next chapter won't be up for a little while longer than the others. I tried to keep each update less than 3 weeks apart, but that streak just broke. I'm sorry for anyone who thought this was a chapter but as soon as I can get a way, I will finish chapter 6.


	7. learn your lesson

**A/N: Yay! I'm back just like I promised and with a new computer. Oh, and happy Halloween for those of you who celebrate it cause I know I'm not going to get another chapter up before then. So here's the sixth chapter, prepare yourself.**

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**Disclaimer: If I owned A:TLA, I wouldn't be writing this.**

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I had to get more supplies. My plan was to get supplies at the water tribe village, but that didn't work out too well. If I didn't get anything soon, I would probably end up starving. At this point, I didn't really care where or how I got them.

I pulled my maps out of one of my bags and glanced at them for what felt like the hundredth time. My eyes searched for, preferably, a fire nation insignia that was generally close to indicate a fire nation port. "Come on, fire nation port, fire nation port!" I whispered to myself absent mindedly while trying not to get anything wet.

"There!" I put my finger down on a small symbol that was a few miles west. Maybe my luck was turning around.

* * *

I was wrong. It was definitely a fire nation port like it said on the map, key word being _was_. There were random scorch marks and ashes everywhere. Some of the trees and bushes were still on fire. There were also a bunch of unnatural looking boulders everywhere. Earth kingdom rebels.

As I walked through what used to be a port, I saw the dead lying around my feet. Both fire nation and earth kingdom. This was what was left of two strong nations colliding.

It seemed as if the earth kingdom had won this battle. I didn't know whether to be happy about that fact or mad because, even though I tried to deny it, the fire nation was still my home. No one, no matter what nation they were from, should die like this unless they did something just as vile.

Then I started thinking about the important task I was given. General Iroh was right. I couldn't kill prince Zuko, even if I tried. He has done nothing to deserve it. My quest was futile, but I had to keep trying anyway. Fire Lord Ozai or Zhao, on the other hand, exceed the qualifications to die like this; with no mercy.

Speaking of people who deserve to die without mercy, Commander Zhao stood on the deck of his ship with his sideburns looking as bushy as ever. Said ship was slowly nearing the docks. I pinched the bridge of my nose in frustration. Can't a girl go anywhere without encountering an evil, fire throwing creep? I just had to hope he remembered last time I was on his ship, which was actually only a few days ago.

"Ah, Houri. I assume your task isn't going too well considering your location at the moment? Strange, I figured someone of your skill would have eliminated the unworthy prince by now." Zhao looked at me with distaste, but also lust, as he walked down the gangplank of the ship. How you could have both at the same time, I had no idea.

"What about you? Aren't you supposed to be on the hunt for the avatar? I'm sure the 'unworthy' prince has closed in on the avatar by now. Wouldn't someone of your high status be able to capture the avatar in a matter of days?" I retorted back. If he wanted a battle of words, then a battle of words is what he'll get.

"Believe me, I have more than enough resources to do as you say, but I was called here for important reasons. Some officers in this port required reinforcement and now I see why. Such a shame all these lives were lost in one small battle, but that's the price of war." Zhao said in a smug tone, as he did most things.

_A price that doesn't have to be paid if it weren't for this stupid, unnecessary war,_ I wanted to say. But I held my tongue. How could he make tons of unbreathing people sound like a small predicament and just pass it by?

"Why are you here, exactly, Miss Houri?" Zhao asked.

"Why, to see the traveling circus, of course." I said with as much sarcasm as I could put into my words. I topped it off with a big grin.

Zhao looked at me with an unamused expression. "I'm here for supplies." I said truthfully this time.

"Of course, come with me and I will lead you all the supplies I have. You may take what you wish." Zhao said and turned around to walk up the gangplank. I didn't move. Zhao turned his head and looked over his shoulder, "I won't require you to stay. You may leave as soon as you get what you need."

I hesitated for a moment longer before following the commander up the gangplank. I really needed supplies, and I saw no kind of immediate threat in his words, but you could never tell with Zhao.

I followed him up the gangplank and into his ship. We walked in silence down the hallways, with the only sound being our footsteps on the metal floor. I looked straight ahead. My whole body was on alert.

"Right this way," Zhao said while a guard opened a door for us to walk into. I walked in. Once I was in, I let out a quiet breath of relief. Zhao had indeed led me to a storage room for supplies, as he had said he would. There was armor, weapons, and any other supplies that might ever be needed.

Zhao whispered something inaudible to the guard at the door. The guard nodded his head and then left his post letting the door slam shut.

"That guard is going to get some food from the kitchen for your journey," he said once he was facing me. I studied Zhao with cautious eyes, not exactly liking being completely alone with him.

I slowly turned my body and walked towards the supplies without taking my eyes off Zhao. Rule number one: never take your eyes off the enemy. In this case, rule number one was no use.

Before I could even process what was happening, a shock wave went through my body as my back hit hard against the cold metal wall. Once my brain caught up with me I tried to fight against Zhao's grip on my shoulders, but it was no use. He was too strong.

"Get the hell away from me!" I yelled while struggling to free myself. "Didn't you learn your lesson last time!"

Surprise passed through Zhao's face, but it was quickly replaced with a snarl, "How did you… never mind, it's not important. I did learn my lesson, however. A direct approach is always better than secrecy!"

Zhao leaned forward and I turned my face away. His lips met the edge of my cheek, but he didn't seem dismayed. Instead, he continued kissing down my jaw bone.

Struggling did nothing except waste my energy. Zhao grip on my shoulders tightened to where it was almost unbearably painful. I didn't concentrate on any of the bad things, though. I concentrated on the fact that Zhao was distracted enough for me to make a move, and a move I made.

You see, I knew fire nation uniforms like the back of my hand since I used to play in my father's armor all the time. I would constantly wear his boots even though they were way too big. That's how I knew where the metal armor was and wasn't when I used my foot to kick Zhao in the shin.

Zhao growled in pain and annoyance, but didn't release his hold like I thought he would. He did, however, literally throw me to the ground _really_ hard. Emphasis on really. It was hard enough to break a bone, but I had been in enough fights to avoid landing in the wrong position. Being raped by a fire nation commander, on the other hand. I had to say that was a new one for me.

As Zhao advanced on me I had enough sense to reach for my sword at my waist, which he had stupidly forgot to take from me. I jabbed in a random spot from the ground only to have Zhao dodge _most_ of the attack. The blade was able to graze his arm enough to bring blood which was satisfying, but not satisfying enough to get out of this situation.

Zhao kicked the sword out my hand and sent it skittering to the other end of the room. That was the only weapon I had with me. Everything else was in my bags which were tied to Kasta's saddle somewhere outside. I was practically defenseless. It reminded too much of my home in the fire nation and I was thrown into a state of panic.

Believe me, I fought as hard as I could, but it was to no avail. It was over. I could see Zhao's form towering over me through tears that were threatening to overflow my eyes. _I will not cry, I will not cry,_ I kept telling myself.

Zhao's blurry hands reached down and tore at the fabric of my shirt, successfully creating a rip up the side. Too soon, I was met with a cool breeze on my bare stomach with only my wrappings to partially cover myself.

Unnaturally warm fingers ran over my stomach and hips. Of course, he was a firebender so that's why his hands were so warm. Wait… firebender?! I knew what I needed to do to be free. It was my last resort, but I was passed that point five minutes ago.

I stopped struggling, just for a moment, to regain some of my energy. Zhao took this as an opening to unclothe me even more, which I was counting on. As his hands moved down, I lit a flame in my palm and, in the blink of an eye, reached up to make contact with his upper arm and shoulder.

Zhao recoiled his hands and grabbed the fresh burn on his arm. He grunted in intense pain, but I didn't stick around to find out how good I had gotten him. I pushed myself up with some effort and grabbed my sword from the corner along with some random supplies that was strewn out on the floor (including some food).

"I hope you learned your lesson now!" I yelled without glancing back. Then I ran with just my wrappings to cover the top half of my body. It seemed like I was doing a lot of that lately, minus the no shirt part, but did I really have a choice?

Luckily, the gangplank was still down, so I didn't have to make a semi-dramatic escape like last time. I blew on my index finger and thumb in a loud whistle as I made my way down. Turns out Kasta had been waiting right beside the ship. It's about time I had some good luck.

I wasted no time and got out of that place as fast as I could. It wasn't until the port was just a tiny dot that I could think straight again and realized some things. 1) Zhao has no heart or soul. He's able to think of dozens of dead people as a simple 'price of war' and try to rape a 15 year old girl _twice_. 2) I have no allies. Everyone I know are my enemies. I had a chance with Aang, but Zuko pretty much ruined it for me. I'll have a lot of explaining to do next time I see them. And 3) I'm not going to have a shirt for a while. My only option is to get my pride crushed by walking through a village half-naked to buy one.

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**A/N: This was for the King of Omashu and Imprisoned. Please Read&Review for this… interesting… chapter. I don't know about you, but I'm excited for the next chapter: The Winter Solstice part 1 (and maybe 2, too.)**


	8. firebender right here!

**A/N: This turned out to only be winter solstice part 1 so part 2 will be next chapter. I'm pretty happy with how fast I was able to get this chapter up. Yay for no school which means faster updates! As always, thank you to all my favorites, followers, and reviewers. Keep doing what you're doing.**

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**Disclaimer: Knock, knock. Who's there. I don't own ATLA.**

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The process of buying a new shirt was just as embarrassing as I thought it would be. Long story short, I walked through the village with my cloak being the only thing decent covering me, I bought a new black tank top, and I walked back. There were the weird looks of the pedestrians and the occasional boys that would come too close for comfort, but nothing worth spending time on.

The important part was that I was back on the road, er, water, and ready to do something. What that something was? I had no idea. I was completely lost on where to go from here.

There were so many options when I first started this mission and now there were hardly any. I had thought about joining Aang, but there was _two _problems with that. 1) They probably wouldn't even let me join since the 'incident' at Katara and Sokka's village. 2) For all I knew, Aang could already be at the North Pole learning water bending.

There was always the Earth Kingdom. It offered a few places where I could possibly build my own life from scratch. It even had Fire Nation colonies.

For some odd reason though, I couldn't imagine myself settling down in the Earth Kingdom, not yet. Something inside of me told me that I was going to play a part in ending this war, and I couldn't do that from my possible home in the Earth Kingdom. My life had already been thrown into this mess, so it was too late to turn back now. Too bad that something inside of me couldn't be a little more specific on how exactly I was supposed to go about doing my part in this war.

Then a thought struck me. I could just go about doing my original task! Minus the killing part, of course. I had said it to Zhao the other day. The fire nation prince was probably closer to catching the avatar than anyone. He would be the best person to go to if I needed Aang's location. I just had to track him and basically follow him undetected until he caught up with Aang!

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Tracking Fire Nation ships were a lot easier than tracking avatars. For an avatar, you had to do it all by yourself using only nature's hints as a guide. Fire Nation ships, on the other hand. All you had to do was go to a scout tower and ask nicely. Well, that and having proof of direct orders from the fire lord helped a lot.

Strangely enough, the fire prince's ship was last seen on the borders of the Earth Kingdom, although I doubt he was planning on settling down and going into the tea business. I had actually heard about the particular area where his ship was supposedly docked. It was famous for it's natural hot springs.

Looks like the former Dragon of the West picked the docking site this time. It was a wonder he was able to convince his stubborn nephew to dock in the Earth Kingdom.

From the time I left the scout tower it only took a few hours to reach the outskirts of the largest nation. The sun was just starting to set on the horizon.

There were no fire nation ships on the shores. There were no ships at all, actually. That was to be expected, though. For the sake of being undetected I had rode Kasta to a rather difficult place for a ship to dock, but it was perfect for an eel hound. Kasta was able to jump out of the water and onto the solid ground easily.

Once we were inside the tree line, I slid off Kasta and planted my feet firmly in the was the first time I had ever been on actual Earth Kingdom soil and it felt almost… peaceful. There's really no other way of describing it. Ironic really, since earthbenders tend to break the peacefulness of the soil.

I continued walking through the woods, looking for any red or black that signified Fire Nation. The walk was so serene and peaceful. It was as if I was on a morning stroll through a friendly village instead of tracking an especially angry teenager.

I was even able to watch the sun set while on my little 'stroll'. My firebending might not have been very strong, but even I could feel some of the power the sun infused in my blood dissolve. That didn't matter, though.

Orange really was a beautiful color, even when it was in the flames of fire. It was beautiful in the way the sun rays died down as they were shadowed by the mountain. The way that it reflected off of the water and the shining armor hanging on a tree. Wait… armor hanging on a tree?

I quickly ran over to said tree and looked over the laid out clothes by the last dimming light of the sun. Just as I had thought at first, the clothes were red and black for Fire Nation. Even more interesting was that they were the clothes of a high noble. The alarming part was that they matched the clothes that I had seen General Iroh wear when I was a prisoner on the prince's ship.

My eyes took in the surrounding area. Grass, a meadow vole, and what looked to have once been a hot spring with unnatural rocks embedded inside of it. There was an occasional water drop that would slide off one of the rocks.

There was definitely something wrong with this picture. General Iroh's clothes hanging on a tree, but no General Iroh. A hot spring with an uphill landslide in it and, once again, no General Iroh. I could piece things together pretty easily. It was obvious. General Iroh had been captured by earthbenders… without his clothes. My face paled at the thought.

I guess there was really only one option. I doubted the retired general's nephew even knew. After all the kindness the old man had shown me, I needed to partially repay him and this was the way to do it. I needed to save the Dragon of the West from earthbenders.

* * *

Saving an old man from earthbenders was easier said than done. On the bright side, Kasta was able to pick up the scent of an ostrich horse with no problems. At least I hoped it was an ostrich horse.

Then there was the matter of trying to see in the dark. I briefly considered lighting a flame in my palm for light, but I was in Earth Kingdom territory and tracking Earth Kingdom soldiers. Firebending would be the equivalent of holding a sign that said 'Look at me! Firebender right here! Go get the soldiers!'

Yeah… that might not go too well. I'll just keep tracking in the dark.

Judging by the water droplets that had not evaporated or been absorbed into the ground yet, it had been quite a while since the earthbenders had captured the fire lord's brother. They were more than likely heading to Ba Sing Se since it was the best place for an arrested fire nation general to go. Ironic since General Iroh had some not so good ties to the Earth Kingdom capital.

One could only hope - _if _I was not able to save General Iroh in time - that they made it to Ba Sing Se without any… problems. From what I had saw, the tea loving man was smart enough to not test the Earth Kingdom soldiers. You could never really tell, though.

That's when I got a whiff of the scent. A scent that almost made me gag. I stopped Kasta and slid off, but not without covering my nose first.

A few feet in front of me, there was a lone sandal in the middle of the path. There was no need to get any closer. I doubted there would be a single sandal in the middle of the path on which I was tracking the old man for no reason.

That sandal wasn't for me. I was sure of that. There was no possible way that the general knew that I would be tracking him. It had been over a week since I had last saw him. No, the sandal was for someone else. And that someone else was probably right behind me. I guess the fire prince proved me wrong in this case.

At that very moment, while I was contemplating how long it had been since the earth kingdom soldiers had been here, the air around me started to heat up considerably. I highly doubted it was my own fire bender heat.

Even with the warning, I refused to turn around. It would be easier to dodge an attack if the firebending teenager didn't know that I knew he was there.

I counted the seconds in my head while waiting to duck or jump when I felt the tingling sensation of an attack on the back of my neck. _One komodo rhino, two komo… _

And there it was. The all too familiar tingling and heat of a fire blast headed straight for my head. I was able to easily roll out of the way of the attack.

Again and again, fire balls were thrown my way that I continued to dodge. It got harder to avoid the blasts as the fight - well, half-fight considering I wasn't attacking - went on. On wave of fire in particular got dangerously close to burning me. It did, however, manage to catch my new shirt.

"Woah, hold up!" I said with my hand held out in front of me in a weak attempt to block any flames that might be thrown at me. I doubted it would work, but it was the best I had at the time.

With my other hand, I drew the flames off of my shirt before they could cause too much damage. The result was about half the size of my palm on the bottom right left corner. "It took a lot to get this shirt and now it has a hole in it. Great!" I muttered to myself sarcastically.

"You can fire bend?" The look of straight up shock on the sixteen year old boy's face almost made me laugh out loud, but I held it in considering my situation at the moment.

"Noooo, I'm a waterbender who can somehow move fire!" Maybe I could hold back a laugh, but I couldn't do anything about sarcasm. It was unfortunate because the boy in front of me looked as if he was debating ways in which to kill me. I could only imagine his thoughts: 'Hmm, burning her alive would be kind of fun. Maybe we could feed her to the rhinos. Or I could trade her for Uncle.'

"I don't have time for this! Step aside peasant unless you want to be set on fire again!" He threatened.

"Believe me, I would _love _to be out of your life, but there's one problem. Despite what you might think, I actually have what I like to consider, a pretty good heart." I said, "You've probably already come to the same conclusion that I have: General Iroh has been captured by earthbenders… without his clothes. Now, despite my unwillingness to see your uncle without clothes, I am repaying him for his kindness by saving him. By kindness, I mean a moment in particular where he may have stopped you from killing me. I presume that's what you are doing, too?"

Personally, I thought my little speech was good. Prince Zuko stared at me for the longest time like I had just grew another head. Then he nodded his head in what I assume was an answer to my question. He wasn't entirely stupid enough to think he could find his uncle without help after all. He walked over to the sandal that had almost made me gag. That's when he did the unthinkable. He picked up the sandal… and sniffed it! I questioned his mental well being once again.

"Yep, that's Uncle Iroh." he said just loud enough for me to hear. The banished prince got back onto his komodo rhino, that I had just noticed, and rode further down the path. I urged Kasta to follow him, and that's what the eel hound did. Who would've thought that I was actually able to semi-cooperate with the hotheaded teenager. General Iroh is sure in for a surprise when we found him.

* * *

"So… nice weather we're having, huh?" I tried to make conversation with the prince beside of me for the third time. The sun had already risen and we still hadn't found General Iroh or the earthbenders. If I didn't get something to hold my attention soon, I had a feeling I would fall asleep.

The sixteen year old boy completely ignored me and made his rhino go even faster than it had been going. It was the same response I got every time I said anything that wasn't particularly helpful. In response, I also urged Kasta to go faster, just like I'd did every other time.

Out of nowhere, the rhino in front of me came to an abrupt stop, causing me to almost run into it. I pulled Kasta around to the other side of my annoyingly silent partner. There wasn't much to look at. The only thing there was a cliff.

I turned my head to ask the older boy what his fascination with cliffs was, but what I saw surprised me. The rhino was there, but it's rider was gone.

The only place that the prince could've gone was down the cliff. I was almost positive that he had lost his mind, but jumped off of Kasta and slid down the cliff anyway.

On my way down I saw why exactly we had came down here. General Iroh was there, along with the Earth Kingdom soldiers. Perfectly normal except for the boulder that was hovering above the retired general's hands.

At the last possible minute before the boulder crushed General Iroh's hands, the old man's nephew kicked it out of the way and broke the chains with his foot. I'll admit, it was impressive.

"Excellent form, Prince Zuko!" General Iroh said as he stood up.

"You taught me well," Zuko said with the smallest of smiles.

One of the earthbenders moved forward, "Surrender yourselves! It's five against two! You're outnumbered!"

I could've said something along the lines of, '_you mean five against three!_' But I didn't. I was a little ticked off at the prince for leaving me up there without any warning whatsoever, so that's pretty much what I said as I walked down and took my fighting stance with them, "You know, you could've at least told me that we had found him. But noooo, you had to leave me up there with no idea where to go."

Zuko just grunted in response while General Iroh chuckled, at what exactly, I didn't know.

"One little girl doesn't matter! You are still outnumbered!" The earthbender from before said. I made a mental note to attack him first.

"Ah, that's true, but you are clearly outmatched!" Iroh exclaimed. All five of the earthbenders threw the closest boulders they could find towards us.

General Iroh swung his chains around to break the boulders while his nephew blasted fire at them. It seemed that the two fire nation men had their sides covered, so I ducked under the boulder coming towards me and ran for the earthbender who I had promised a special spot on my attack list.

Judging by the difference in his clothes from the others, he was the captain. That just meant it would mean more to him to get beat by a 'little girl'.

I drew my sword and slashed through the most recent boulder he had bended at me. This was the first time I had ever faced an earthbender, so it could be fun.

It was pretty obvious that they were trained more to fight fire benders instead of hand on hand combat. I was able to break every boulder that he threw at me with ease. I even managed to inflict a few cuts onto his legs, arms, and face.

I continued to play with him by slashing at his legs and arms for a moment before the sound of fighting around me died down. Then I danced around behind him and used the hilt of my sword to hit the top of his head hard and knock him out.

I glanced around to see all four of the other earthbenders lying on ground. I saw General Iroh, wearing almost nothing, smiling proudly at what we had managed to do. My eyes drifted over to my other side where the two knocked out earthbenders were, but no teenage boy.

I looked back over to General Iroh wondering where his nephew had went. General Iroh's eyes widened and he looked like he was about to yell something, but I couldn't hear it. All I could hear was the ringing in my ears from something hitting me hard on the head. My knees buckled underneath me and I fell to the rocky ground. At least I think I did, because everything turned dark before I made impact.

* * *

Iroh's POV

"Don't do it, nephew!" I yelled, but it was too late. He had already hit the girl - Ri, if I remember correctly - over the head with a rock he had found on the ground.

"Prince Zuko, after this young girl helped you save me, you knock her out? I thought I taught you better than that!" I scolded my nephew.

"Uncle, she tried to kill me!"

"But she didn't," I pointed out.

"I'm taking her back to the ship! You can't stop me!" he said as he picked Ri up and started back towards his rhino.

I shook my head and started to follow my stubborn nephew. At least I would be able to treat her head where she was hit on the ship. Maybe I would be able to convince my nephew to give her more freedom if she didn't escape first. Then I stopped when I saw a gleam out of the corner of my eye. Ri's sword that she had fought with was laying on the ground. She must've dropped it when she was knocked out.

I walked over and picked it up, thinking that she might want it. Upon further inspection of the blade, I noticed a small, almost invisible symbol on the bottom on the hilt. I looked closer and almost dropped the sword when I realized what it was.

"I don't believe it." I said.

"Uncle! Come on. I think I know where the avatar is!" Zuko yelled from up the cliff.

"Coming, nephew!" This matter was worth looking into, but not now.


End file.
